Huge garbage truck fire shuts down Toronto intersection

It's a pretty unanimously held notion that this year has been a complete dumpster fire thus far — which is what makes the literal dumpster fire that happened in Toronto on Monday morning feel so hilariously fitting.

In what seems like a stunning microcosm of 2020, a garbage truck that was inexplicably engulfed in flames ended up closing a busy downtown intersection as fire crews extinguished and cleaned up the smoldering pile of trash it was forced to dump onto the roadway.

A Toronto garbage truck was spotted on fire this morning at Simcoe & Adelaide - 📹 u/Chrisupra https://t.co/Zl7uXZ7GMU #Toronto #TorontoFire pic.twitter.com/qxeydbnuTH

— blogTO (@blogTO) August 17, 2020

Passersby caught the incident, which took place just before 8 a.m. at Adelaide and Simcoe — in front of the Soho House, of all places — on video, with the footage showing the blaze and smoke billowing out of the top of the vehicle while it quickly jettisoned its burning load all over the street.

No word on how exactly the fire started, but it definitely caused a massive, smelly mess of the intersection (thank goodness for masks).

The hours-long cleanup is still underway at the time of publication, with police and other crews also on the scene as a loader empties the now-sopping waste into a dumpster.

Toronto Police have blocked off Simcoe from Richmond to Adelaide as crews clean up the garbage truck fire mess #Toronto #TorontoFire pic.twitter.com/rigst10m5M

— blogTO (@blogTO) August 17, 2020

So if you were thinking of grabbing a bougie cocktail on the Soho House rooftop patio or anywhere else in the Entertainment District, this afternoon might not be the best time  — that is unless, of course, you like the smell of flaming garbage and the reminder that this year has been a complete and utter shitshow.